I just did a review of the BCS television numbers and it was interesting to note:

Many people have said that Utah has the lowest numbers ever, well, that is not the case. The lowest rated BCS television game of all time was a 2006/07 BCS matchup of Louisville and Wake Forest. It had a rating of 6.98.

The second lowest tv rated BCS game was Hawaii against Georgia which came in at 7.0.

The third lowest tv rated BCS game was the exciting Kansas State/Virginia Tech match up in at 7.40

I think Utah had one more tv set on than that one as it came in with their match up against Pitt at 7.4 as well.

West Virginia and Oklahoma matchup of 2007/08 came in at 7.70.

What does this tell us? 2 of the 4 worst watched games came from nonBCS schools. It also tell us that one of the big problems is that the nonBCS team either played a crappy nonrespected team (Utah vs. Pitt) or a viewed as crappy nonBCS team (Hawaii vs. Georgia) and that will never help ratings.

The Boise State/OK game came in the mid 8s in ratings which are still not real good (even though that is better than 3 BCS bowl games from last year alone).

The worst rated bowl (not just BCS bowl games) games of the past 4 years:

0.30 rating for TCU and Houston in 2007/08
0.6 rating for Troy and Northern Illinois in 2004/05
0.77 rating for Fresno State and Georgia Tech in 2007/08
0.93 rating for Texas Tech and Minnesota in 2006/07

In 2006/07, the Utah/Tulsa game had better tv ratings than BYU/Oregon. (surprise considering that BYU had a well known opp)
In 2007/08, the BYU/UCLA game had better tv ratings than Utah/Navy. (not a surprise)

Anyway, just found it all interesting.

LiveCoug

12-03-2008, 12:08 PM

Out of curiosity, what are the highest rated BCS games as a comparison?

UteStar

12-03-2008, 12:11 PM

Out of curiosity, what are the highest rated BCS games as a comparison?

The championship game is always the highest rated. The highest rated game was Texas/USC at 21.7. Much higher than the second highest rated games of championship games of Florida/Ohio State (06/07) and LSU/Ohio State (07/08) which came in at 17.4.

Most of the BCS games come in around 8-10 range. Some bump into the 12 range, while some hover around 9.

cougjunkie

12-03-2008, 12:47 PM

I just did a review of the BCS television numbers and it was interesting to note:

Many people have said that Utah has the lowest numbers ever, well, that is not the case. The lowest rated BCS television game of all time was a 2006/07 BCS matchup of Louisville and Wake Forest. It had a rating of 6.98.

The second lowest tv rated BCS game was Hawaii against Georgia which came in at 7.0.

The third lowest tv rated BCS game was the exciting Kansas State/Virginia Tech match up in at 7.40

I think Utah had one more tv set on than that one as it came in with their match up against Pitt at 7.4 as well.

West Virginia and Oklahoma matchup of 2007/08 came in at 7.70.

What does this tell us? 2 of the 4 worst watched games came from nonBCS schools. It also tell us that one of the big problems is that the nonBCS team either played a crappy nonrespected team (Utah vs. Pitt) or a viewed as crappy nonBCS team (Hawaii vs. Georgia) and that will never help ratings.

The Boise State/OK game came in the mid 8s in ratings which are still not real good (even though that is better than 3 BCS bowl games from last year alone).

The worst rated bowl (not just BCS bowl games) games of the past 4 years:

0.30 rating for TCU and Houston in 2007/08
0.6 rating for Troy and Northern Illinois in 2004/05
0.77 rating for Fresno State and Georgia Tech in 2007/08
0.93 rating for Texas Tech and Minnesota in 2006/07

In 2006/07, the Utah/Tulsa game had better tv ratings than BYU/Oregon. (surprise considering that BYU had a well known opp)
In 2007/08, the BYU/UCLA game had better tv ratings than Utah/Navy. (not a surprise)

Anyway, just found it all interesting.

So they are low just not as low as most thought. The Fiesta Bowl rep must not have had all of his facts in front of him.

TripletDaddy

12-03-2008, 02:36 PM

So they are low just not as low as most thought. The Fiesta Bowl rep must not have had all of his facts in front of him.

No, they are really low.

The BCS has been in place since 1998. That means there have been about 40 BCS bowl games.

In those 40 games, there have only been 3 instances of a non-BCS team playing.

Of those 3, 2 of them were almost dead last for ratings...the bottom 10 percent of all BCS bowl ratings. Not good. No wonder non-BCS teams are unwanted.

TripletDaddy

12-03-2008, 02:39 PM

Also, read this quote from wiki about the BSU/OU game

However, the presence of Boise State, a non-BCS school, quite possibly led to some of the lowest TV ratings ever for a BCS game. Of the 37 BCS bowl games played through the 2006 season, only two received lower ratings than this game—the 2005 Fiesta Bowl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Fiesta_Bowl), the only other BCS game up to that time to feature a non-BCS school; and the 2007 Orange Bowl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Orange_Bowl), which featured two non-traditional BCS-conference teams in Louisville (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Louisville_Cardinals_football_team) and Wake Forest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Wake_Forest_Demon_Deacons_football_team).

Babs

12-03-2008, 02:59 PM

The championship game is always the highest rated. The highest rated game was Texas/USC at 21.7. Much higher than the second highest rated games of championship games of Florida/Ohio State (06/07) and LSU/Ohio State (07/08) which came in at 17.4.

Most of the BCS games come in around 8-10 range. Some bump into the 12 range, while some hover around 9.

The median is 11.5.

The reason people always say the lowest rated game ever is Utah-Pitt is because up until last year it was. People have a tendency to memorize facts and repeat them indefinitely, forgetting that the truth may have changed.

Ratings for bowl games have plummeted across the board the last two years, so it only makes sense that the lowest rated games would be last season. The national title game has gone from 21.7 to 17.4 to 14.4 in the last three seasons.

UteStar: Did you mean Kansas-Virginia Tech? I don't remember Virginia Tech playing Kansas State, but I could be forgetting.

Fiyero

01-01-2010, 08:34 PM

This afternoon I realized that the Rose Bowl had no simultaneous bowl games to compete with, unlike earlier in the day when three aired at the same time, splitting viewership. Is that why the Rose is always at the top of the ratings; do they have exclusivity written into the broadcasting contract?

cougjunkie

01-01-2010, 08:35 PM

This afternoon I realized that the Rose Bowl had no simultaneous bowl games to compete with, unlike earlier in the day when three aired at the same time, splitting viewership. Is that why the Rose is always at the top of the ratings; do they have exclusivity written into the broadcasting contract?

I believe all BCS games are on during exclusive time slots.

Babs

01-01-2010, 08:35 PM

This afternoon I realized that the Rose Bowl had no simultaneous bowl games to compete with, unlike earlier in the day when three aired at the same time, splitting viewership. Is that why the Rose is always at the top of the ratings; do they have exclusivity written into the broadcasting contract?

One of the reasons the Rose Bowl tends to do better is because it is the only one left still airing on ABC.

Color Me Badd Fan

01-01-2010, 08:54 PM

I'm commenting on posts from 2008, but Texas vs. USC was a ratings bonanza for two reasons:

1. They were clearly the best two teams in the country, no one else had a claim on either of the two top spots.

2. It involved the second largest media market and the second largest state in the union. Everyone in Southern California and Texas tuned in.

The subsequent title games involved Ohio State and Florida (no one knew who the #2 team should have been and Florida got it by default) and LSU vs. Ohio State (Ohio State got it by default and LSU was in there because the media spent the entire year telling everyone that LSU was the best team in the country).

Also, I think the addition of the fifth BCS game has diluted the other BCS bowls. Back in 2005, the Rose Bowl was forced to take Texas. Texas vs. Michigan in the Rose Bowl is interesting television (and it really was a good game). Now we have a shitty Big 10 team that goes every year because they travel well.

The second problem was the prison rape that the ACC performed on the Big East. This obviously weakened the Big East because it took the only two relevant programs out of it leaving some crappy, uninteresting Big East program to play in the BCS every year. But it also weakened the ACC by creating too much parity in the conference (for the time being). The perception is that a 10-2 Georgia Tech team is a crappy undeserving team, while a 10-2 Oregon team somehow didn't get this perception.

The final issue is the inclusion of the uninteresting non-BCS team (which is beginning to become the opposite thanks to Boise State beating Oklahoma in the second best game of the decade and Utah beating up on Alabama). But I think TCU vs. Boise State will probably get better ratings than the Orange Bowl this year. Interest-wise, the non-BCS teams are now at least on the same level with the Big East and ACC champs and more interesting than the non-Ohio State Big 10 team that goes every year.

Fiyero

01-01-2010, 08:56 PM

I guess the whole Dec 19-29 stretch has no overlapping broadcast times; Meanwhile I remember when Jan 1 was the final day, and had eight or ten games all day long. Has the Rose always been unopposed though?